Beginnings of a Nightmare
by xXHeart of GoldXx
Summary: A war broke out and is effecting every region. Gracie has been hiding in Mount Silver so she didn't have to see the horrible effects of war. However, when her friend finally finds her, Gracie has to realize that reality cannot always be easily escaped.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

I stood at the top of Mount Silver, watching the smoke raising in the distance. The snow felt cold as it fell onto my face. It turned to water immediately touching my face, despite the fact I was freezing. I rubbed my hands together, wishing that I had gloves that would cover my fingers. I saw an explosion occur in the distance, hoping that is wasn't in a town where there were thousands of people dying. I made my hands into fists, just thinking about how the people of this world could do this to themselves. You see, I wanted no part in this war. But war would be such a lightening word, if you will. I didn't know what to call this abomination. I didn't even want to know how the world was functioning. But I did have a pretty good idea. I could watch the world coming to an end from the spot on the mountain I lived on.

Six months ago, I had gone down from the mountain after I had been hiding out. However, when I went down, I didn't expect the war to be this bad. I was naïve, assuming that the explosions were smaller than they were. When I got down, people looked as if they were starving in New Bark Town. People were sinewy and begged for food, not even money. This scared me. People were looking like skeletons. That poor Johto town just didn't stand the chance.

Anyway, I came back from New Bark Town and I didn't even want to see the rest of the world. It was too scary; almost unreal.

I was too scared to even track down my parents because I was afraid of the outcome. My father was out battling with his Pokemon to try and end this war even though he wasn't a great trainer. I don't know where he is, and I have no idea where my mother could be. She probably tried to follow him. I wasn't even there when the war started. I was only on my journey, with mere pre evolved Pokemon. I'm only assuming here, except I know for a fact my father left to go fight with his Pokemon.

I had no idea what caused this war to even start. I just fled when I was almost caught in an explosion. I went here, to Mount Silver. It was a pretty good idea to be honest. I was surprised no one even thought about coming up here, except the Master who was always up here anyway. But I've never seen him. And we could really use him. Well, I guess people just don't like the cold but I don't mind it, really. Sure, it gets very annoying in the winter when it gets super cold out and the blizzards trap me in the cave I currently stay in as I starve for months. But I survived and I'm in much better shape than most down the mountain in reality.

I guess I'm just trying to escape reality and the real world for the most part, I won't deny that. Denial is the first step to insanity in this situation I think. Or maybe the first step is living in a goddamn mountain freezing to avoid reality. It didn't really matter to me considering there's no one up here to judge me accept my Pokemon who are smart enough to be around the fire in a cave.

My feet were becoming numb due to the cold, but I was in a reverie, staring at the explosions taking place somewhere far away. A few tears fell down my cheeks just thinking about my family and the other people who should have come up in the mountain instead of hiding in their houses that couldn't save them no matter how much they wanted them to.

I felt my Glaceon nudging at me, trying to get me inside the cave with everyone. I needed her to considering I couldn't get out of my thoughts by myself. I simply nodded and followed her into the cave. As I sat down on the blankets, she nudged a berry towards me and I ate it. Even though it was only some kind of berry, I was content that I actually had something to eat unlike the skeletons down there in Johto. I didn't know about Kanto, but I especially didn't want to know about Kanto. I was sick to my stomach just thinking about Johto. Thankfully, my family was all in Kanto and it couldn't have been anything as bad as Johto. But I did know people in Johto. I didn't want to think about them.

"Glaceon," I started, feeling my voice crack with the lack of use and I was probably coming down with something. Anyway, she looked up at me and tilted her head slightly to the right. "Do you think Emma's okay?" Emma was my younger sister. She was a pretty girl with her blonde hair and light blue eyes. I didn't know where she got those eyes from, but they were perfect; innocent. She was four years younger than me. She was supposed to start her Pokemon journey about two years ago. Instead, this war probably delayed her. I doubt she even had a Pokemon to call her own.

"Glaceon." My blue ice Pokemon said and rested her head on my left thigh and closed her eyes to go to sleep. I smiled down at her. I was lucky to have such a beautiful and perfect Pokemon. I wasn't really a trainer that strived to defeat gym leaders for gym badges or anything. I was just a trainer. I guess you could have called me a wanderer; an adventurer. My only Pokemon were Glaceon and this Swinub. But the Swinub wasn't really my Pokemon. I never called him. He just tagged along. I assumed that he had gotten lost from his family about a year ago. I sort of lost track of time here once my Pokegear stopped working.

I decided to go deeper into the cave to the hot springs that the Swinub had actually showed me. Glaceon got up and began to follow me down to where it was warm. I think I had forgotten about the hot springs for a moment. Maybe I am going crazy.

The next morning, or I assumed it was because I could see the sun and no stars, I got up and decided to drink some water to fill the void of my hunger. I put some water in my old plastic water bottle that I had used every day and put some icicles that were hanging from the sides of the cave that were close to the outside. The coldness of the morning shocked me. I could easily see my breath and felt my nose burning due to the sudden change in temperature I exposed myself to.

I swished some of the water in my mouth and spit it out to get that awful taste of morning breath out. I should have bought toothpaste in masses last time I went down. I probably could have found some, but I doubt it considering the state New Bark Town was in. I then drank the rest of the water and ventured outside to go pee somewhere. I found the tree I usually used, leaned against it so pee wouldn't splash all over my legs, and went.

I found a few berries on some old trees. I was actually surprised that berries grew here the first time I had to go find food, but then I figured the Pokemon that live up here must eat something. I gathered some berries and brought them back for Swinub, Glaceon, and I.

I began to think about Emma again, thinking that she was starving or worse, dead. I wanted to go find her, but I didn't want to go in the smoke of gunpowder and seas of skeleton people to find her to be one herself.

I broke out of the thoughts of my sister when I heard footsteps that were very unordinary. Didn't sound like a Pokemon to me, so I decided to go see what it was. With Glaceon walking beside me and Swinub behind, I knew I'd be all right unless it was the Master who was known to get angry.

I gasped when I saw the boy in front of me. His dark blue eyes with his dark red hair were unmistakably his, but I couldn't believe it for myself. So, I stood there with my mouth slightly gaping thinking that I had seriously gone insane. "Gracie, I've finally found you!" He said and hugged me so tight I could hardly breathe. But I did miss the human contact. I longed for a hug from someone for so long, I forgot what it felt like. I hugged him right back and mumbled some stupid things, such as I missed you and I can't believe you're here.

The hug finally broke. "Ry, what are you doing here? I mean…how are you still alive? I went to New Bark Town and saw the state it was in and you don't look like them. What I mean is, you aren't skin and bones and now I'm just babbling like an idiot." He chuckled a bit and rubbed his hands together.

"Gracie, I haven't really been in Johto since this whole war started." Ry admitted. "I feel bad though because my family's probably still back there. I've just been wandering around trying to find you forever."

"Sorry about that." I said and led him over to the warm part of the cave, where the hot springs were.

"Don't be." He said and sat down. "Wow, you sure do have it made in here. No wonder you haven't been around. It's so much nicer in here, you know? It's like a good hideout."

"Well, that's what I've been doing." I said. I watched Ry pet Glaceon.

"Hey, I notice you've got a Swinub here."

"He isn't mine officially. He just follows me and Glaceon around. I don't mind him though. He's like part of my weird family in here." I said.

"Ah," Ry said. "You climbed up pretty high in the mountain, you know."

"I did?"

"Yeah. You're so high up. The air's pretty thin here."

"I hadn't noticed."

"You wouldn't have considering you've been here for a while." I nodded, agreeing with him. I offered him some berries which he accepted.

"Do you know what it's like down there? You know…in the regions." Ry hesitated before he answered my question. His facial expression completely changed from content to a look of sadness. I was afraid to know the answer.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

"Well, you should know." Ry started. I stared into his eyes, just waiting for an answer. "Johto is pretty bad. People there are sick all the time and malnourished. Explosions keep occurring left and right and many are just dying. Kanto is in somewhat better shape, but only marginally."

"I was afraid of that." I said, thinking about Emma, my mother, and my father. "How's Hoenn and Sinnoh holding up?"

"Sinnoh is practically destroyed. I heard that there are no people or Pokemon left. But that's just a rumor. I don't really want to go find out for myself. I'm sure there are a few that survived, but only a handful. Hoenn is probably in the best shape, but the battles are moving towards that region."

"I hate this war." I stated.

"We all do." Ry paused. "I bet you don't even know how it started." He was right, I didn't. I just knew people were fighting and I wanted it to stop.

"How'd it start?" I asked in a barely audible voice.

"Well, the leader of Team Galactic, Cyrus, moved his business to Isshu where he easily took over. Half the people probably didn't even know about him and Team Galactic."

"Wait, I thought the Master took care of him years ago…" I thought about the stories I had heard about and this just couldn't be true. He was went through some kind of hole, not really sure to where, but I knew he was supposed to be gone.

"He figured out how to get back. And that Master you're talking about is your father." Ry said.

"No, he's not. He isn't my father, Ry." He knew this was a very sensitive subject for me. Why couldn't he understand that the Master wasn't my father?

"He is! Get that through your thick skull! I remember when the two of you were inseparable."

"Yeah, until he abandoned me, mom, and Emma to go travel around like he was ten years old." I mumbled.

"Come on, you should give him more credit than that." Ry tried.

"Listen, he was never around after my ninth birthday and I hadn't seen him since. You should have seen what he did to mom, you know. He left us with practically nothing. We didn't have any money coming in and Emma was only five at the time so mom couldn't work. We were poor, and then my father took us in and helped us a lot. He's always around. The Master is not." I yelled.

"I know, I know." Ry attempted to calm me down. I counted to ten so I didn't completely lose my temper, something I learned from my mom.

"Sorry." I mumbled. "But you have to admit, my dad is much better than the Master. He just isn't a great Pokemon trainer anymore."

"That's true, but you have to remember your biological father, not this one. Your name isn't Gracie Oak. Besides, I came up here to find him." Ry said.

"But why?" I asked.

"He could really help us. If anyone can get to Isshu and destroy Cyrus it would be him. Besides, I attempted to destroy him myself, but I failed miserably. I was lucky that Dragonite had enough strength to fly me out of the building. I couldn't even get to where Cyrus was. Those people are strong, like stronger than Lance." I was surprised to hear that Ry was beaten that easily. He was a very talented Pokemon trainer which was odd considering his parents weren't great themselves.

"But if you're looking for him, how come you were looking for me too?" I asked.

"That was just a bonus I guess." I blushed at his comment even though I know I shouldn't have. It wasn't all that flattering. The two of us stood up. He pushed a strand of my orange hair behind my ear. "I've got to get going." Ry said and began to walk out of the cave. "Hopefully I'll see you again sometime!" I watched him form get smaller and smaller as he walked towards the coldness of the outside. I felt my legs begin to move. My mind was screaming at me _what are you doing?_ But I continued to catch up to him.

"Wait!" I said as I quickly put berries and blankets in my backpack. Glaceon rushed after me, with Swinub on her back.

"Huh? Gracie, what are you doing?" He asked as I put my jacket on as fast as I could. "I'm coming with you."

"No you aren't. It's too dangerous. And besides, the Pokemon only get stronger and stronger as we go higher on the mountain." He said, looking at Glaceon and Swinub, who fell off of Glaceon's back and began to cry.

"I don't care. I want to come with you." I persisted. Ry stood there for a minute in deep thought.

"Well, you'd be much safer here." He started. "But, you can come if you want. Just put your Pokemon in Pokeballs so there's less of a chance of separating from them. Blizzards here get pretty bad and are random." Obviously, I knew that about the blizzards, but I just nodded and returned Glaceon into her Pokeball.

"I don't have one for Swinub." I told him.

"Here, take one of mine." He tossed me an empty Pokeball. Swinub's face lit up and jumped into it. I officially had a Swinub now. I smiled to myself and clipped the Pokeball on my belt next to Glaceon's. I followed Ry out of the cave and ventured into the cold mountain.

It was silent and awkward. The only sounds I could hear were my boots hitting the crunchy snow and the winds that burned my face when they blew strong. The snow looked deep, but it was so frozen and compact, I barely sang down into it. I made sure to stay close to Ry because I really didn't want to get lost out here. I couldn't see the cave anymore and I had no idea where I was going because I had never been this far up the mountain before. I looked to my left and I could still see smoke in the distance. It looked heavy and thick but it looked so small all the way down there. "So," I started as I looked at the back of Ry's head. "How's your family?"

"They're all right." Ry responded. "Not sure about Aimi though." Aimi was his older sister by about two years. She left on her Pokemon journey at age ten and was barely heard from since. For some reason, she hated her parents. She was a pretty girl, looked just like her mother from the hair to the body frame; magenta hair and those deep blue eyes. But for some reason, she hated her parents. I saw nothing wrong with her parents though. They never hurt her, didn't spoil her too much, and treated her right. Aimi and her mother never got along, and she and her father were never close. She had to be insane because she had pretty much the perfect parents.

"You know what happened to her?" I asked for the sake of conversation.

"Yeah. She used to be on the news sometimes. I mean, I think she was, but the girl went by the name Miya."

"Wait, you think Miya was her? How come you never told me?" I asked him.

"You never asked." Ry smirked. I couldn't believe he thought that Aimi was Miya. I mean, she was probably one of the strongest trainers in the Isshu region. She probably had every type of Pokemon within her grasp. However, she didn't use any Pokemon from the Isshu region itself. That was what made her so famous in Isshu. Every Pokemon she owned was rare in that region.

"Well, we made a promise that we wouldn't keep any secrets from each other." I countered.

"Sorry." Ry shrugged. I never met Ry's parents myself, but he told me practically everything about them just like I told him everything about mine. "It's getting dark and I think a blizzard's coming." I felt the winds become stronger and agreed with him. "Go Steelix." He said. "Go Arcanine." The two Pokemon waited for an order. "Arcanine, sniff for a hot spring. Once he finds one, Steelix, you create a tunnel to it."

So, his Pokemon obeyed. Arcanine found hot springs, so Ry returned him to the Pokeball while he and I followed steelix deep underground. It was beautiful down in the springs and most importantly, it was warm. We took off our jackets and hung them to dry. Ry returned Steelix and put the Pokeball back. We changed into a pair of dry clothes, both of us not looking as the other changed of course. Well, at least I hoped that he didn't sneak a peek like I had. We ate dinner and had small conversations here and there. I could hear the wind howling outside. Good thing we decided to find shelter because that blizzard out there sounded horrible.

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" I ask as I bushed the knots out of my hair that the wind had created.

"We're going to have Dragonite fly us up as far as he can go without exhausting himself. We'll get there much faster that way." Ry explained. I nodded and decided to go take a bath in the hot springs. I told Ry that he better not try anything funny.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

The next morning, we emerged from the cave and found everything quite beautiful outside. Well, at least I did. The sun was actually shining on the snow, making it sparkle. "It's beautiful." I whispered to myself.

"You coming?" Ry said. I looked over and saw him standing next to his Dragonite who grinned and looked quite happy. "I think it would be safer if you rode on Dragonair this way Dragonite won't tire as easily." He said and let out his Dragonair from her Pokeball. I was able to get onto Dragonair's back without any problems. As we flew high, I held on so I wouldn't fall because I had a fear of flying. I shut my eyes tightly and put every ounce of my trust into this Dragonair. We flew for about an hour and I heard Ry say that we had reached the summit. We descended from the cold air. He returned his to Pokemon and the two of us began to travel on foot.

"Do you even know where you're going?" I asked him.

"No, not really." He paused. "Today's a nice day, huh?"

"It is." I had to agree. I could actually feel the sunlight hitting my face, which was usually rare because where I was in the mountain, it was usually cold and windy. It was much more peaceful up here.

"It should be around here somewhere."

"What are you mumbling about? What should be here?" I asked him.

"I was told by someone that the Master is kind of living in a cabin up here."

"And you didn't tell me this before because…" I paused. "You wanted me to come with you. You figured that if you led me to believe you didn't have an exact location, then I would come and help." My temper began to get the best of me again, so I had to count to ten again.

"You're right."

"You just wanted me to reunite with my father, huh?"

"Sort of." Ry said. "But I still am looking for him to save everyone and get him to go help and destroy Cyrus."

"Don't you think if he wanted to help, he would have by now?"

"You have a point, but I think we can convince him." I decided not to argue with him and go along with this, even though it might be painful to see my biological father again.

"Who told you his whereabouts anyway?" I asked.

"Well, Kobe told me that Lance told him that he was up here." Ry said.

"Kobe? You mean Kobe Walters? You're insane! Why would you listen to him?" Kobe Walters was a nice kid and all I guess if you like the lying and deceiving type. He was about a year older than Ry and I. He had brown hair just like his mother's but resembled his father in every way, shape, and form besides his hair color.

"Yeah. But hear me out. I went to find Lance and he actually told me that Kobe told me the truth."

"Well, that makes me feel better I guess. But next time, tell me Lance told you that, not Kobe Walters."

"You've got it, Gracie." I rolled my eyes at his way of always being cheerful. As I rolled my eyes, I saw something that resembled a cabin in the distance. It looked as if it had once been covered by snow but the blizzard's winds must have exposed it to the open.

"I think I see the cabin." I stated, pointing ahead of me. Ry turned around and I could just imagine the grin on his face when he said,

"Let's go." He sprinted off towards the cabin, too overexcited for his own good. The Master would probably kick us out and say that he had no intentions of helping us out; or the regions for that matter. I ran after him anyway because I knew Ry wouldn't slow down for me. However, he stopped in front of the door and waited for me to catch up to him. I stood there, staring at the door. Ry knocked on the door. However, it only creaked open. This startled the both of us, but only made me jump.

It wasn't really creepy because the lights were on, so I followed Ry inside. It was nice and warm with a fire blazing in the fireplace. I was surprised I didn't notice the smoke coming from the chimney before. I thought he would want to keep it more secret, but I guess he figured most people couldn't make it to the top of Mount Silver. I made it close to the top without any Pokemon really. Ry told me that was because I was lucky I didn't encounter any wild Pokemon and I had my biological father's strength. I slapped him in the arm for that comment. A small yellow rodent, a Pikachu, somehow managed to jump up into my arms. I remembered this Pikachu. He was _his_ starter Pokemon. I pet the Pikachu. I had nothing against him, just his owner. "Who's down there Pikachu?" I heard a voice. _His_ voice.

"Mr. Pokemon Master, sir. My name's Ry and I'm here to ask you something." The man came from a room and stood in front of us. His hair was black and in his usual messy style. His clothes were still the same and wore that stupid hat.

"Pikapi! Pika Pika chu Pikachu Pikachupi." Pikachu said and jumped out of my arms onto his shoulder.

"Grace, is that really you?" He asked.

"Yes it is." I said, not in the happiest of voices. I felt the tension in the room.

"Anyway, why are you two here? And how'd you find me?" He asked.

"I was told by Lance that you were here and I had to find you, sir."

"Call me Ash."

"Okay. Um, so Lance told me to come here and get you to destroy Cyrus in Isshu." Ry said bravely.

"If I wanted to help, I would have already. Nothing can be done, that's a fact. So you should just give up trying to save anyone." He said.

"Please, sir er, Ash, I already tried myself and so did Kobe Walters and we both failed. Please, you're the only one who can end this." Ry pleaded. My biological father said nothing.

"Ry, I told you that he wouldn't help. He's too cold hearted to even try to help. Even my dad is trying and he isn't as good of a Pokemon trainer as him, but he's still trying. He could even be dead as we speak." I clenched my fists together in anger.

"Dad?" He questioned me. "Who do you call dad? Your mother remarried?"

"I call Gary Oak my father. I call him Gary, but when I talk about him I refer to him as my father. And no, mom didn't remarry. You just happened to leave her with nothing so Gary was nice enough to let us live with him until mom saved up enough money to get her own place with me and Emma." I couldn't even look him in the eyes. "I hate that mom still loves you. I hate it. She even went with Gary in hopes that you'd be out there fighting too. I have no idea where Emma is."

"Please help us." Ry said again. "I can't live like this, knowing that my parents could be dead when I get back. I can't stop thinking about them living in that hole deep in the ground I had Steelix make for them. Other people have it worse. They're like living skeletons and they're all starving or being exploded to death." Ry said and began to rummage through his backpack. "I have pictures." He handed them to Ash who took them and began to look through them.

"Who's this?" He asked.

"That's my mom." I gasped when I saw the picture. That looked nothing like the picture he had shown me. Her face looked like a skull with skin stretched over it and the life in her blue eyes were gone. "And that's a picture of my little sister, Hallie." My eyes actually teared when I noticed the little girl in her mother's arms.

"How old is she?" I asked, forgetting how old she was.

"She's only seven now. And I have a little brother, Trevor. He's nine. His dream is to become a Pokemon Master, but I don't think that he'll even make it to ten and I doubt the war will be over at any time soon unless you help." Ry said. I looked up at my biological father. My blue-green eyes met his dark brown ones.

"Trust me, if I didn't need your help, I wouldn't have come here too." I said to him. After looking through even more Polaroid photos of sick children, Ash said that he would help us. Surprisingly, this made me smile. He dropped the stack of photos when he got to the last few. I bent down to pick them up to see what made him drop the photos. It was just a picture of Ry, Aimi, Trevor, and Hallie with their parents before the war started. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I know those two." He said, pointing to the lavender haired male and the magenta haired female.

"You mean you know my parents?" Ry asked, very surprised.

"Their names…Jessie and James, right?"

"Yeah. But how did-"

"Long story." He said and shook his head and I handed the pictures back to Ry who put them back in the bag.

"We'll leave tomorrow. We have to get to Isshu soon." Ry announced. I smiled and agreed with him. However, I gave my biological father a cold stare. He wouldn't be getting away with abandoning the three of us that easily.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

After we slept the night away, we all decided to fly down the mountain to get to Isshu as fast as we could. However, we wouldn't be able to fly to Isshu due to the fact that planes were shooting at each other in the sky. We would have to figure something out, but for now, we were just going to fly down from Mount Silver. As I held on to Dragonair again, I kept thinking about Emma and my mom and Gary. I didn't know why I was thinking of him as just Gary now. It really did confuse me at the time. Maybe it was because I spoke to my real father? I wanted to slap myself because Gary was always there for me. And this morning, my so called father disappeared. Ry and I decided to try and defeat them by ourselves. Dad wasn't one bit reliable.

When I was about nine years old, I had grown up with my mother, father, and my younger sister, Emma. Ash, I'll refer to him as my father in this, went to work every day at nine o'clock in the morning and came back at five o'clock at night where dinner would be waiting for him and we'd all eat together. Mom was happy being a stay at home mom. My father made a pretty good salary so mom could stay home with us. Dad, on the other hand, hated his job in Viridian. He would always complain about it, but mom always would say, "Just because it doesn't revolve around Pokemon doesn't mean that it isn't a good job." Me being little, laughed when dad whined about his job. I thought it was actually funny. Emma and I would laugh and laugh because we thought he was only pretending.

However, the reality of the whining and complaining hit me. I began to realize that he really did hate his job. I felt bad for him because I didn't want him to feel horrible because I knew I would hate doing something I didn't particularly like.

One night at dinner, dad said, "I have an announcement to make." The three of us girls became quiet and still. Emma froze in the middle of putting the spaghetti in her mouth. None of us moved because dad never said he had an announcement to make.

"What is it, Ash?" My mother asked.

"I-um, I forgot." He said and excused himself from the table.

"Mommy, what's wrong with daddy?" Emma asked.

"I'm not sure. Excuse me girls." She stood up and followed my father upstairs, probably in their bedroom.

"What's going on?" Emma asked me.

"I don't know." I responded. I then heard mom yelling at him. It was muffled, so I couldn't understand it.

"Why is mommy yelling at daddy?" Emma asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" I rolled my eyes at her. The yelling continued, and then dad joined in the yelling. I was surprised because he was usually the calm one. Emma and I looked at each other with wide eyes in disbelief. "This is bad."

"Gracie, I'm scared. Is something bad gonna happen?"

"No, of course not. Dad is probably whining too much again." I said, but I couldn't eat my dinner because I knew deep down that something was wrong.

I remember mom coming down angrily and her face was all red, not the angry kind, but the sad kind, like she had been crying. Emma looked at me worriedly but I turned away from her as I watched from my seat at the table mom washing dishes. I walked over to her. "Is everything okay?" She smiled down at me and began to stroke my long, orange hair.

"I don't think so." She said. She couldn't lie to me because within the next second, I watched dad come down the stairs with his Pikachu and a backpack and that stupid old hat of his.

"Daddy, what are you doing?" Emma asked and got up from the table.

"Daddy's going on a long journey." He said and pat Emma's blonde hair.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm going to go out on my Pokemon journey."

"Daddy, only ten year olds do that." Emma laughed.

"I already started my journey when I was ten. I'm going to be continuing it." Dad said and gave Emma a hug goodbye. I didn't hug him though. I refused to. It would only make the goodbye that much harder. Mom of course, hugged dad and kissed him and told him to be careful. "I promise I will, Misty." He said. He then broke the strong embrace and promised that whenever he won money, he would send it to us. "I'll make more money doing this." He said, and then walked right out the door. Mom was devastated.

Months went by and money was already running low. Mom could only get a part time job because Emma was only in Kindergarten at the time. I volunteered to watch her after school but mom said, "No, Gracie. You aren't old enough to watch her yet." I continued to argue with her, saying that I would be leaving on a Pokemon Journey within a year so I must be responsible enough. But mom said, "No. And besides, you're still in school when Emma isn't." I couldn't argue with her. She was right.

More months passed and a few weeks after my tenth birthday, the house was being foreclosed. I knew what the notice said when we came home from school that day. Emma didn't. Mom just told Emma that we'd be moving soon. But with the little money she earned, we wouldn't be able to afford anything.

The day we got kicked out, we had no place to go. Mom got worried and said, "If Ash sends the money, we won't get it." But I replied with,

"He never sent us a check. Why would he start now?" That would just make mom even more upset and she would cry. What was I supposed to say? It was the truth. Mom brought us to the park that day and tried to figure out what she could do to get more money. "I'll go on a Pokemon journey." I said. "I'll get us some money and unlike dad, I'll send it to you."

"Thank you, Gracie, but it isn't your job to provide for the family." Then, someone overheard our conversation. It was Gary Oak, dad's old rival from childhood.

"Hey, what's going on Misty? I heard your place got foreclosed." Mom bawled at the thought of having no place to go with all of our things packed up in the car. Word got around fast in Pallet Town. Mom told him what happened with dad and everything. "Come stay at my place as long as you'd like. I've got a son at home with his mom that would get along with those two."

"I couldn't ask you to do that, Gary." Mom wiped away her tears so she would appear to have some dignity.

"You don't. I offered."

"Thank you so much." So that day, we moved into Gary's place. He had a son around Emma's age. His wife had died giving birth to him. His name was Samuel, or Sam for short, named after his great grandfather, the famous Pokemon Professor.

I couldn't stand living in that house for some reason. I was so mad at mom for always talking about dad and making it sound like he was some kind of saint. I did like Gary, he was a nice guy, but he was always researching things while mom ranted about how dad was so amazing and living out his dreams. One night, I got fed up with her. I yelled at her, saying that he was a deadbeat loser and a failure. Mom cried and I yelled. I angrily stomped off to my bedroom and began packing my bags furiously. "Gracie?" Sam asked, using his walker. The poor kid was born with cerebral palsy and probably needed that walker for the rest of his life. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just leaving for my journey a little early, that's all." I said. Emma came bursting into the room and stood beside Sam.

"But the starters aren't here yet." She stated, referring to the Pokemon. "You can't leave. Not yet."

"I'm…starting my journey as a challenge. It's the kind where you don't start out with a Pokemon." I lied, but the two naïve five and a half year olds bought it and I walked out of the house with my mother watching me. I didn't hate her, I just didn't like her at the moment. She yelled for me to come back and tried to grab my arm to make me stay, but I just shook her off easily because she was crying too hard to be strong and I just walked out. I broke into a run towards route one. Tears finally hit my eyes as I realized that I was on my own all alone.

Days went by and I made it to Viridian and then Viridian Forest where I was attacked by a swarm of Beedrill. Now, that got me running for my life. I realized that the Beedrill stopped chasing me when Glaceon licked my knee. I thanked her and realized she was at a pretty high level. Pokemon around these parts were normally weak and Glaceons were completely rare in Kanto. I only knew this was a Glaceon because when I was little, I adored Eevee and its evolutions. I happened to have one Pokeball with me so it captured itself. I was confused, but I later learned that Glaceon was abandoned by its trainer.

Months and months went by and I finally reached Saffron City. I had enough money to use the magnet train to get to Johto. I wanted nothing to do with Kanto at the moment, so I left for Goldenrod City, Johto.

The ride wasn't too bad and very uneventful. I let Glaceon out of her Pokeball as I wandered through Goldenrod, thinking about a place I would be going to sleep or something. "Hey, that's a nice Glaceon." A boy said that was around my age. "You don't look like you're from around here. Where you from?"

"How did you know I wasn't around from here?" I asked him skeptically.

"You just don't seem like it. That's okay, I'm not from this place either. It's pretty big, huh?"

"Where are you from?" I asked him.

"New Bark Town." He responded and walked next to me as we sauntered through the streets.

"I'm from Pallet Town in Kanto." I responded.

"You mean you came all the way here from Kanto? Wow, that's awesome! What brings you here to Johto?"

"I just wanted to get away from Kanto."

"Family problems?"

"You could say that." I said.

"You a Pokemon trainer?"

"No."

"Oh, I am." He opened up the side of his jacket. "See? I've got seven badges already!"

"Cool." He was starting to get on my nerves. "So where are you going?"

"I don't know. Just wandering."

"Are you going back to Kanto for Christmas?" I had completely forgotten that Christmas was coming up and there was no way that I'd get back to Pallet in a month.

"No." I decided. This would be my first Christmas away from home.

"That's too bad. Hey, I have an idea! Want to come with me? I'm on my way to try and make it for Christmas in New Bark Town with my family." I had nowhere to go, so I nodded. Maybe I could get a job at Elm's lab there. "Sweet." He said. "I'm Ry Morgan by the way."

"I'm Gracie Ketchum." I responded and the two of us headed for a month's journey to New Bark Town.

I don't remember a lot about meeting Ry's family, just that his mother called him by his first name, Ryan which he hated. I actually like the name Ryan, it isn't a bad name. That's how Ry and I became great friends.

Three years later, I returned home. Emma was excited to see me and so was Sam. They had grown so much since I was gone. I apologized to my mom and hugged her for ten minutes because I really did miss her a lot. She told me about how she and Grandma Delia worried about me and how much I was missed. Within a short amount of time, the war started. I fled to Mount Silver then, leaving my family behind. Now that I thought about it, Gary wasn't really a father towards me. But he took us in and took care of my mother. That was what a father should do.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

We landed at the base of the mountain. Ry said we had to travel the rest of the way mostly on foot so we wouldn't be spotted. I followed Ry on the route towards Victory Road, or whatever that cave was called. I just knew that cave led to the Pokemon League. We weren't going to go to the Pokemon League for it had been blown up at the start of the war. I was surprised that Lance made it out alive when Ry mentioned him. But he's Lance, so obviously he would live. "Where are we going to go?" I asked.

"We're going straight to Isshu." Ry replied as he decided to return his dragons into their Pokeballs.

"Wait, we're going straight there? Shouldn't we go to Hoenn and get supplies?" I asked. "Going straight to Isshu is stupid. We have to get stuff so we're prepared."

"If you want to add another two or three months onto the journey. Look, I kind of took stuff from your father that I thought we'd need. We don't have to make any unnecessary stops along the way." Deep down, I knew he was right. I was just terrified out of my mind to be traveling all the way to Isshu on foot.

Night fell and Ry said the safest time to travel was at night, but the safest time to sleep was at night too. The night air was crisp and actually quite calming. I could see the moon and the stars shining bright into the sky. I could hear the sounds of the nighttime Pokemon as they happily walked around. None of the Pokemon were attacking us, which I thought was odd because these Pokemon around Mount Silver were known to be incredibly strong and most disliked to be disturbed by anyone or anything. I was surprised that I was able to pet a baby Phanpy while its mother watched. Ry said that the Pokemon were acting strange, and I obviously agreed, thinking the same thing,

We decided to camp out for the rest of the night and sleep, knowing that we were safe for at least one night.

It took days before we reached Viridian City. At least it used to be. It was pretty much deserted. As far as I could see, destruction was evident. Even the famous Pokemon Gym was no more. Ry covered my mouth before I let out a scream at the sight of a headless dead man. "I don't think people are fighting here anymore." Ry said. I didn't want to get lost, so I held his hand tightly in my own as we left the city. At least there wasn't anyone there that I could see that was suffering anymore.

Patches of Viridian Forest were bare, but other parts were full of lush, green trees and grass. We decided to go sleep in there, thinking that it was safer near the trees than out in the open. For some reason, I began to feel something strong for Ry. I didn't know what it was, but it kind of scared me. I got these weird feelings that I wanted him to kiss me; hold me. He put his arm around me and pulled me close to him so that my face was against his chest. I felt his warmth; his strength of his arm. This honestly made me feel weird. How could I like Ry like this? I mean, it's Ryan Morgan, my best friend. I wasn't supposed to feel this way especially towards him. I felt myself feel really weird, as if I wanted something from him. The more I thought about it, the more weird I felt. I know I'm saying I felt weird a lot, but I didn't how to describe it.

Ry started to kiss me which I went along with. Before I knew it, we were naked under the blanket that we shared. He was on top of me. I stopped the kisses. "You know, once we leave this forest, we're bound to get killed." Ry said. "I hear Pewter and Cerulean are in pretty bad shape."

"And I don't want to die a virgin." I couldn't believe that I said that. Did I really want this and risk pregnancy? I wasn't getting my period because I was so underweight, so I guessed it would be all right. Besides, this was the perfect moment.

"You sure about that?" I nodded, said I'm sure and he started touching me in intimate places. I felt myself getting wet and told him to enter me because I couldn't take this tension anymore. That's what was making me feel weird, sexual tension. Don't worry, I won't add any more details about that night.

Nothing interesting happened until we reached Pewter City. We had been traveling for a long time, but since our sleep patterns were erratic. As we walked through Pewter, I was appalled at the condition it was in. Everything was left black; charred from fires. "Hey, who are you?" Someone shouted. The two of us turned around, Ry stepping in front of me.

"Kobe Walters?" Ry was as surprised as I was.

"Gracie and Ry?" He said. "What brings you here to Pewter?"

"We're here to get to Isshu and stop this war." Ry whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you guys." He said.

"Maybe you'd like to join us?" Ry asked.

"Sure, but you'll be joining me."

"Whatever." I said.

"Grace Ketchum, you haven't changed much." Kobe said looking at me from head to toe.

"Whatever, Kobe." I said. Kobe and I go way back, believe it or not. When I was about five years old, my dad was invited to go to Hoenn to visit his old friend, May who had a son, Kobe, my age. So, my dad, I'm talking about Ash here, actually brought me with him while mom stayed home with Emma. After that visit, the two of us kept in touch for years. Not sure why considering we both didn't particularly like each other, but we did. Let's just say it was a complicated friendship. So with Kobe joining our team, it did make me feel a little more confident considering good for nothing Ash Ketchum Pokemon Master won't help us at all. I hate how people could be great people (which he was when he was younger, like ten) but then turn into ignorant assholes who want to accomplish their dreams. Sometimes dreams don't always work out in the real world. Emma's dream was to be a Pokemon trainer but that dream probably came to an end. I don't know whether she's alive or dead anymore. Or any of my family for that matter.

Anyway, the three of us traveled up to Cerulean City where we were shot at and feared being blown up. We met someone who wanted to join us on his quest. His name was Ben and was the son of the old Gym Leader in Pewter. I don't remember much about him, though because when we got to the Cape of Cerulean, he was shot to death by someone from Isshu. I remember him saying he didn't care if he died because his family was already dead and he didn't really have anything to live for anymore. Depressing kid, but he was a nice one. When he was shot, it took months for the image of him being blown up and chunks of him slapping me in the face. I remember trying so hard not to scream so I wasn't shot at too.

We rode on Kobe's Gyarados to get to Isshu. It was an extremely long journey up to Isshu because it was so far up North compared to the tip of Kanto. As we traveled up the coast, there were so many dead bodies bobbing in the ocean the farther North we got. Usually, I did enjoy the ocean because it was so calming. But this was the Coast of Death, as I called it. I did throw up a few times. Kobe told me to stop or I'd die from being malnourished. The funny part was, I was probably already suffering from malnourishment.

"How much longer until we reach Isshu?" I asked as I shivered because it was so cold. It was actually snowing. It reminded me of Mount Silver. Explosions replayed in my mind as I thought about that Mountain.

"Probably within a few days or so. We're almost there." Ry said as he held me close. I didn't want to wait a few days, though. The very idea just scared me half to death because I could easily see ships in the distance exploding constantly. I was surprised that those ships hadn't hurled cannons at us. I guess that's why we stayed close to the shore. No ship could easily get this close without scraping the bottom of it.

Finally, we had made it. It was disgusting when we stepped foot into the Isshu region. I don't know what town or city we were in because I didn't know the names of any of them in this foreign region. I smelled the rotting flesh in the air. I wanted to throw up like I had about a week ago but I didn't because we didn't have too much food left from the stash Ry took from my biological father.

When I looked up, I saw that it was snowing. That was odd because it didn't seem cold enough for snow. But it covered the streets and sidewalks. I asked why it would be snowing when it didn't feel like freezing temperatures even though it was cold. Kobe collected some of the snow in the palm of his hand by scooping it up. He put it close to his face to examine it. "This isn't snow." He stated.

"Well then what is it?" I asked.

"Ashes."

"Ashes of what?" Ry spoke up.

"People. Humans." Kobe said and tossed the ashes behind his back. I took my hand and held some of my hair to my face. I saw that there were these…ashes that looked like snowflakes in my hair. I had dead people in my hair. I wanted to puke yet again, but I didn't. I swallowed the burning stomach acids mixed with chunks of food back down my esophagus.

"Where are they coming from?" I asked.

"Not sure where it is." Kobe said. "But, I remember watching the news with my parents back in Hoenn and it said that people were being tossed into things and then burnt up until they became these ashes. It happens in masses and then there's this chimney like thing that spits it out so it doesn't build up. The wind carries it along."

"That's just disgusting. This has to stop." Ry said and I agreed.

As we walked through death city, I noticed some starving children and sympathized for them. They were like baby skeletons begging for food with their eyes. I noticed one little girl out of the bunch. She had dark blue hair and looked a tad healthier from the other kids. That wasn't saying much. "Can I have something to eat?" I wanted to cry when I heard her little voice.

"Let me see what I have." I said as I rummaged through my bag. "All I have are three oran berries." I said. "You can have them."

"Thank you so much." She said and began to eat one.

"You don't look like you've been here too long." Ry noted.

"I haven't. My mommy was trying to find the place where Cyrus is. She hasn't come back yet." She said.

"Oh, well maybe we'll meet her because that's where we're headed." I said.

"Really? If you find her tell her to come back. I'm getting tired of playing in the snow all the time." None of us had the heart to tell her what that really was.

"I'm Gracie and this is Ry and he's Kobe." I introduced us.

"My name's Heaven." She smiled. She stored the rest of the oran berries in her jacket. "Thank you so much for the food." She said and then we were on our way to find that place where Cyrus was.

"That's it." Ry said as he pointed into the distance. A large black building stuck out in the crowd of people ashes and broken skyscrapers. I knew he was right, that's where Cyrus was and that's where we were headed.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

We waited until nightfall to make the attack. There were three of us, most likely hundreds of them, and one Cyrus. Basically, this was a suicide mission. I didn't know if those two knew it. I never did because I never asked. I figured that if they didn't think of this as a suicide mission, they wouldn't be afraid to go through with it. Steelix was sent underground to go disable the power cord. Arcanine melted the plastic casing of the wires. Glaceon and Swinub were sent down there to use Icebeam on the wires, encasing them in a sold block of ice so they couldn't be fixed for days. We covered up the hole with dirt and those horrible ashes. I could hear screaming from the back of the building. Probably from innocent people that had no choice but to work for Cyrus. Those were most likely the rebels of Isshu, the ones who tried to get rid of Cyrus from tormenting their region.

I was to go underground with Steelix and my two Pokemon in order to do a surprise attack on the first floor. My job was to make sure the doors were sealed up so no one could escape. I was also going to borrow Arcanine for the job. Kobe and Ry would be riding their Dragonites and create chaos wherever they got inside the building and fight their way up to Cyrus or wherever he was. I gave Ry a long kiss before I was sent to do my job.

I rode Steelix deep underground with the three Pokeballs clipped to my side. However, that deep underground part was actually a laboratory. I was extremely surprised. No one ever told me about this. They just told me that I would burst through the first floor. However, that would be impossible to do now that guns were being pointed towards me. I let out the Pokemon and told them to attack but told them not to get hurt. I was scared out of my mind. My heart was racing, everything seemed brighter, and I felt the blood pumping through my veins at high speeds.

The Pokemon were being shot at. "Save yourselves!" I screamed as I watched a man step on the Pokeballs, breaking each of them into pieces. I watched the Pokemon, besides my Glaceon, all run away from the guns. Steelix had gotten shot multiple times, along with Arcanine whose leg sat across the other side of the room as he limped and hopped onto Steelix. I cried when I saw the poor little Swinub dead and being kicked around the room.

A man took my wrists and held them tightly as he bent my arms in an awkward position. Glaceon was knocked out cold, probably dead. I couldn't tell if she was bleeding or if it was the blood of the other Pokemon. I was scared out of my mind. I felt my arms snap and fall limp. I was kicked at repeatedly until I coughed up disgusting amounts of blood.

To my surprise, Glaceon was not dead after all. She ripped at the remaining men and tore their flesh off of their bodies. She was beat with the back of the guns that had run out of bullets, but that didn't stop her. She was still going at them, killing them with her powerful attacks and her teeth. I wanted to get up, but I was just too weak. My arms were broken and my legs probably were too.

All of a sudden, the cries of the men stopped. I couldn't see too much but from what I saw, Glaceon killed all fifteen men that were left that either Arcanine or Steelix hadn't killed. Glaceon looked at me worriedly. Funny, I didn't think that I had been shot in the stomach. I couldn't even move my hands to hold in my blood from spilling out everywhere. My breaths were becoming shorter. Weaker. I could barely form sentences. I…

A woman in a cloak watched the ashes fall down from the midnight sky. She pocketed the tape recorder bracelet that this Glaceon had delivered to her that belonged to Grace Ketchum. She had just spent two hours listening to Gracie's voice speak about her long journey. The poor girl was only about sixteen years old and was dead. The Glaceon looked completely upset, staring into space in her own lap. And here she was, just complaining that she hadn't been able to dye her hair black and wear her red contact lenses! Her priorities were changing. She now knew that her younger brother had been part of this very small, childish rebellion. But was it childish? She didn't really know herself. Except for Grace, the two other boys might have thought that they were invincible, but they were most likely dead too if their plans went as well as Grace's.

The woman stood up and held her cloak closer to her body, preventing the chills of death from entering her body. The Glaceon cried out for her owner. The woman told the Glaceon not to follow her. "I'll be back." She said. "I promise I will." And then she disappeared from the frightened and sad Glaceon. She hated leaving the poor Pokemon, but she knew that this stupid war and Cyrus' dictation end. And she wasn't going to lose. Mostly because she never lost.

She found the hole that the Steelix had made a few days ago. She held onto her cloak as she jumped in the hole. She landed in her feet perfectly and found many dead men. The room smelled due to the fact that dried blood stained the walls and floor and dead bodies were scattered across the room. She found an Arcanine whimpering next to a dead female. This had to be Grace Ketchum. She saw that the girl's beautiful blue green eyes were left wide open. She closed them because she knew it was the right thing to do. The poor Arcanine wagged his tail because he recognized her scent. She pet his head and fed him a berry and gave him some water from her water bottle. She gasped when she saw him missing a leg. "Where's your Pokeball?" The Arcanine barked and looked in the direction of the broken Pokeballs. Since she only carried around three of her best dark types, she put the Arcanine in a Pokeball to rest up. He went in willingly. She then noticed that the Steelix was crying out towards her. "Oh, Steelix. Here, you come in a Pokeball too." She said. The Steelix nodded and looked pretty happy as it turned into a beam of red energy and put in the Pokeball.

The cloaked woman ran up the stairs and as she went down the corridors, she could smell the rotting flesh and old blood from the dead people who scattered the halls. She called out her Mightyena so she didn't feel so alone and freaked out even though she normally liked dark things. But this was just too much.

As she traveled about the corridors, various army men jumped out at her to prevent her from getting to the top where she knew Cyrus had to be. However, they came in small numbers and were easily frightened by her Mightyena who was able to dodge eight bullets and bite a man's leg vigorously. "Go." Said the leader of them. "Maybe you have the strength to end all of this." She nodded and continued her journey down the hallways.

She came across a woman and shook her head. She never stood a chance to even try coming in here. The blue haired woman's face was caked with blood and her legs were mangled beyond repair, unless the doctors started to treat people again. She took in a deep breath due to an overwhelming amount of shock because this woman moaned. She was actually alive? Had she heard right? Curiosity got the best of her and she leaned down to hear the faint whispers and breaths of the woman. "Turn back…" She said.

"I'm not turning back." She said.

"Go back…you're Miya…" She said and tried to smile.

"The one and only. But I'm not turning back."

"Too young…to die…go back now."

"I'm not going back." She said and saw the woman begin to tear up. "Listen, someone needs to end this. If the Master hasn't yet, he never will. I have to end it."

"That's what I thought…" She gasped for breath. "Now look at me…you could…end…up like this."

"What if I promise that I'll win?" Miya said.

"That's quite a hard promise to keep…" The woman said and coughed.

"I know I can do it. I've never lost in my life and I'm not about to lose now." Miya said and gave the woman a water bottle. She adjusted her to sit up so she could drink it without too much difficulty. "I'll come back for you soon. Besides, the last group of kids that came in destroyed most of the security around here."

"Wait…" She said as Miya went to stand up.

"I told you, I'll be perfectly fine." She reassured.

"No…well…I mean if you're life is in any danger…forget about me and get out." Miya was released from her grip and completely stood up and held her cloak close to her body. She could only nod and ran off with her Mightyena in tow.

Miya climbed up the endless flights of stairs. She knew she had to get to the top, but there were so many doors on that top floor and they all looked exactly the same. None stood out. They were all plain solid oak doors. She scoped the floor numerous times in search of a hint to where Cyrus was. All of a sudden, her Mightyena pushed her to the floor and got down himself. Miya was shocked when she saw that a bullet had ripped through Mightyena's flesh. The poor Pokemon whimpered and tried to lick at his wound. One man stood in an old Team Galactic uniform. His hair was a dark brown and his eyes matched his hair perfectly. He wore a snarl on his face as he managed to come closer to her with the gun. However, Mightyena tackled him to the floor so that he was pinned, losing the grip on his gun and sent it flying across the room. "That thing was useless anyway," He said. "I only had one bullet in that old gun."

"I need information and you're going to give it to me." Miya announced.

"I won't give any information to you." He spat.

"I think you will." Miya said and in response, her Mightyena growled at him and threatened to bite him. "You know, with the little amount of food out there, Mightyena hasn't had too much to eat. And he is a carnivore."

"That Pokemon wouldn't eat me." He said confidently.

"Want to bet? Go for it, Mightyena." She sneered at the man as she said this. Her Mightyena put his mouth at his neck, teeth close to puncturing his neck that would kill him with just a bit more pressure. "Tell me." She said once she saw the evident fear in his eyes.

"Okay, okay. Just don't kill me. He's in the fourth room on the left from the stairs hiding in a safe." He whimpered.

"Good." Mightyena got off of him. "Now, I suggest you get out of here now." He immediately got up, rubbed his sore neck, and ran down the stairs, away from the cloaked woman. She smiled to herself and returned her Pokemon because he was tired after being shot. She then sent out her Houndoom and approached the door. She had Houndoom use flamethrower to get the door open. She smiled to herself when she saw the safe at the end of the luxurious room that contained Cyrus.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Miya stared at the door and wondered if he was really in there. She felt stupid for thinking and postponing this mission. Usually, she didn't care for other people. She only cared about herself, really. However, she wanted to complete the mission her brother failed to do along with Kobe and Grace. She knew that she wouldn't be doing this without knowing that her brother actually attempted this. She wished that he had contacted her. She would have helped Ry in a heartbeat. He was the only one that she loved and actually trusted. She shook her head to concentrate on this mission. Dwelling about what why should have done was a waste of her time. "Houndoom, famethrower." She said. Houndoom did exactly as she said and the metal became hot and began melting. A hole was formed and she peaked inside. However, Cyrus wasn't in there! Nothing was in there. "Fuck." She cursed to herself.

"Looking for me?" Said an evil voice from behind her. She turned around slowly and saw Cyrus standing right behind her with his own Houndoom next to him. The two Houndoom growled at each other after Cyrus grabbed Miya's arms and held them tightly behind her back with his other arm around her neck. She was struggling to breathe, but managed to get some oxygen into her lungs. The other Houndoom was much more vicious than hers. It was at a much higher level and began sinking its teeth into her Houndoom's flesh. Miya was becoming extremely angry. She began to fight to get free, but Cyrus only held her tighter. She couldn't bear to watch her Houndoom being ripped and torn at anymore. His blood was soaking the carpet and he tried to limp away while licking his wounds, but that other Houndoom was just too insane.

"Let me go!" She screamed.

"Miya, Miya, Miya. Why would I let you go? You know, some other kid got in here." He said, dragging her away. Despite her Mightyena being hurt, she figured it would be all right and help out Houndoom. She rolled the Pokeball onto the floor and Mightyena came out, knowing exactly what to do. Her Mightyena had a much more vicious nature and could take a few hits, and wasn't afraid to be hit. He was an abused Poochyena until Miya took him in.

"Where are you taking me?" She yelled.

"Just into the closet to show you something." He said and opened a closet door. He turned the light on. Miya wanted to puke when she noticed that her brother was rotting away in there. "This will happen to you." So, Ry was dead. She would be sick later. She had to defeat Cyrus. Somehow, she broke out of his grip.

"Tyranitar, go!" She yelled and her Tyranitar appeared out of the Pokeball. She smirked as she saw the fear on Cyrus' face. She returned her other beaten up Pokemon and had her Tyranitar attack the Houndoom which fainted with one attack. "I think you should give up." She said. However, he didn't and a huge Pokemon battle broke out. He sent out his Honchcrow and his Crobat. They flew around the room, confusing Tyranitar. She told her to keep using Hyper Beam. This created a small explosion and the ceiling was blown off. It had begun to rain, and Tyranitar hated the rain. She knew this was bad. However, her Tyranitar still battled these two fighting Pokemon despite the fact that she had a major disadvantage because she was unable to fly. Miya was getting frustrated because she saw that Cyrus was trying to sneak out of the building. "End this now, Tyranitar! Just give me your strongest Hyper Beam you've got and spin around as fast as you can to hit both of those flying Pokemon!" Tyranitar did just that, and his two powerful Pokemon were defeated. However, Tyranitar used the last bit of her energy and fainted. She returned her, and ran after Cyrus, tackling him onto the cold, wet ground.

Miya knew this was her chance, to end this. She whipped out her pocket knife and held it to his neck. Cyrus felt the cold knife resting against his throat. "I knew this day would come." He whispered.

"Of course it would." Miya said.

"I just knew it would be you in the end, defeating me, Miya."

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Because you're the only person who could kill without feeling anything. That kid, Ry, on the other hand couldn't do it. He was a coward. You are like me, not afraid to kill to benefit yourself."

"Killing you won't just benefit me, that's why I'm nothing like you."

"You aren't fazed by my random babbling, either. Impressive. And I never knew that the famous Miya had magenta hair and innocent blue eyes." Miya hadn't noticed that her hood had fallen off completely. She didn't even feel it slipping off of her head like she normally would. "You're just a young girl, Miya. If you kill me, you'll have to finish the rest of your life as a murderer. And I know that you were never a fan of murder."

"But I never tried to stop it either. Sure, murder is bad. But it isn't if you're murdering someone with a purpose so mass amounts of people won't get murdered. What's worse? One person dead or millions?" Miya said and pressed the knife to his neck so it began dripping blood onto the knife.

"End my reign, Miya. End it. I want it to end." Cyrus said.

"Why do you want it to end?"

"I've done many bad things and this is by far the worse."

"How come you're admitting this now? How come you suddenly care about someone other than yourself?"

"I don't know. Really, I wanted to lure the Master here but he never came."

"Why do you want the Master here?"

"We have a history. Short and brief, but he was the one to foil my greatest plot."

"Whatever." Miya said.

"But if I go, you're coming with me." Cyrus said and pointed a knife to her chest. Miya used her other hand to stop it from piercing her chest. This guy was literally insane. He had to be. No one could go from murderer to regretting everything then right back to murder. Miya was able to push the fear of getting stabbed and sliced open Cyrus' throat. She grinned at him as his eyes fluttered shut from loss of blood and no oxygen. She let go of the blade that he had started putting into her hand and put it on the floor. She wiped the blood off of her hand onto his clothes.

Realization hit her. It's over. Cyrus' raid and everything was finally over. Members of Team Galactic came in to see what the explosion and everything was. "What happened in here?" One man said.

"I killed him." Miya said as she stood up, holding the blade, and put her hood up over her head. "He's gone. All of this is going to end."

"Finally someone stopped him." One of the men said. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me. Three other teens were here way before I was. They were the ones who destroyed everything besides Cyrus. I just finished the job." Miya explained in a monotonous voice, the one she usually used when being interviewed or talking with other people. "I need you guys to do me a favor."

"Anything." One of them piped up.

"There's a dead body in the labs downstairs. Bring her to Pallet Town. And there's a dead boy in that closet. Bring him to New Bark Town. And if you find another dead boy, I don't know where he's from, but he's from somewhere in Hoenn. Just bring it to Little Root and see if Birch can identify the body. In an hour, I'm blowing this place up." The men nodded, obeying their new leader (or so they thought) and took off to do their jobs.

Miya scoped the floors where that blue haired woman was. Eventually, she was able to find her again. However, she found someone else with her. "Don't touch her." She snapped.

"Don't tell me what to do, little girl." The older man said and carefully placed the woman on the floor. "She's dead by the way, so don't worry about her."

"What are you doing here?" Miya snapped.

"I heard you defeated Cyrus."

"Word travels fast."

"They do if you have the connections I do. Giovanni." He said and put his cane into his left hand and stuck out his right hand for her to shake. She shook it, just to be polite for the old man.

"Miya." She said.

"Ah, you're the famous Miya." He said. "You don't look like her." Again, her hood had fallen off and she didn't seem to notice.

"That's because I dye my hair and wear contacts."

"But you aren't wearing any kind of glasses now."

"That's because I have twenty twenty vision." She explained. "If I were you, I'd get out of here. I'm going to explode this place soon and I don't care who's in here."

"All right. May I follow you? Being an old man like myself, I forgot how to get out of here."

"I guess so." Miya said and began walking side by side with Giovanni.

"You look familiar." He said. "Is your name Jessica?" He asked.

"No it isn't. But it's my mom's name." She said.

"You sure?"

"Of course I am. I just said my name was Miya."

"Okay. But I don't believe that's your real name."

"How would you know?" She asked as she held the door open for him to leave the building.

"You don't look like a Miya to me and Jessica wouldn't name her daughter that." Giovanni said as he observed her appearance. "But you look just like her. You know where those blue eyes came from your family?"

"No I don't." She said as she watched the building collapse in the distance. She returned her Tyranitar who did the job. She was pleased with herself because she knew that this horrible ordeal was finally over. She was even more pleased when she saw people gathering around, thanking her for ending the horrible dictation and evil that spread throughout the regions.

"Well, they came from your grandmother, Miyamoto." He said.

"How do you know that?" She gasped.

"Because you look just like Jessica, you have those eyes, and you like to be called Miya, short for your grandmother's name, am I correct?"

"Yes but no one could possibly know that. My parents don't even know that I'm their daughter ever since I ran away."

"You'd be surprised how easily parents can identify their children." He said and she hadn't realized she had been following him to an old fashioned helicopter. She decided not to ask how he was able to fly here without getting blown to bits. "Come with me into the helicopter." She did as she said because she didn't really care whether he was legitimately old and welcoming or some creepy man looking for eighteen year old girls to score with.

When Miya entered the helicopter, she was shocked to see her parents and a little girl on her father's lap. "Oh, I'm so glad you're safe! Look how much you've grown, I've missed you so so much." Her mother said as she embraced her into a warm hug. Miya hugged her back because she didn't really know what to do. It had been seven or eight years since she had seen her mother. Her father had joined the hug, along with this little girl and the Glaceon who apparently followed her onto the helicopter. Funny, she had completely forgotten about it, but here it was.

"Hey guys." Miya found herself saying. As she stared at them, she felt the whole situation sink in. All of a sudden, she didn't feel tough anymore. She felt weak and horrible because she had killed a man even though he had it coming. She fell to her knees and began crying, something she hadn't done in so long.

"Oh, Miya." Her mother said and went onto the floor and brought her into another motherly hug.

"I killed someone. I'm a murderer. I literally had his blood on my hands. Why? Why did I do it?"

"Because it was the right thing to do, even if it was murder, Miya."

"Why do you keep calling me Miya?" She sniffed. Jessie pushed some of her hair behind her ear so she could look her daughter in the same eyes she saw in the mirror. "You mean, you've known it was me?"

"Of course. Even with the dyed hair and red eyes." She smiled.

"Ry's dead." She said.

"I figured he would be." It was Jessie's turn to cry a bit. "I knew he would after he left."

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"I couldn't."

"You could have tried. This is why I ran away, you guys are the worst parents!"

"Show them respect. Your brother would have gone whether or not your parents let him." Giovanni spoke up.

"We were so weak at the time. He wasn't so he was able to go." Miya listened to her parents and calmed down and counted to ten before she spoke.

"Where's Trevor?"

"He passed away months ago. Turns out, he was sneaking his sister food. This is Hallie." James said, referring to the little girl. "You never met her, but you're her sister."

"Hey Hallie."

"My big sister's a hero!" She cheered.

"Well, I guess I am." Miya decided not to ask how they knew she'd be here. It would probably be another simple answer like the last one, how her parents knew it was her. She wished there would be a not so simple answer, like she had fooled them for a while. But they were never fooled. She realized that her parents weren't that bad after all.

Miya decided to drop by Pallet Town after a couple of months after she decided to return home with her family. She left her Pokemon with them except that pesky Glaceon. However, she was glad that it had found her because she had to confront Gracie's mother who was probably devastated because she probably had her dead daughter delivered to the door. Well, if those stupid Galactic grunts did their job.

She hesitated before knocking on the door. Once she did, she waited a few seconds before someone with orange hair opened the door. She assumed it was Misty, and it was apparent that it was when they introduced themselves. "Well, I heard you'd be coming, Miya. Come in." She said. Miya nodded and followed her through the house and sat on a chair opposite from a younger girl, Emma, and Misty.

"I have something for you, Emma." She said and referred to the Glaceon who she had only met a few times. "This was Gracie's. I figured you should have her." Miya said.

"Thanks." Emma replied.

"I'm assuming the body was delivered?"

"Yes." Misty said. "We had the funeral service about a month ago."

"Same for my brothers." Miya said.

"You know anything about Kobe Walters?" Emma asked.

"Sorry, I don't." Miya said. "I should probably find out where he's from and meet with his parents." Misty and Emma only nodded. Miya handed Misty a seemingly normal watch.

"What's this?" Misty asked.

"Gracie's watch. But it's more than a watch. Press the button on the side." Gracie's voice could be heard on the watch. Misty's eyes teared up as she listened to her daughter's voice that she thought she'd never hear again. Miya was able to sit through the two hour long story Gracie told. "I…" Was the last thing Gracie said. Or so Misty thought when she shut off the watch. "Wait, I discovered more. Just keep listening."

"Sorry, I guess…I passed out…with it on. I can't remember what I was gonna say…" A long pause with a sharp breath being taken in was heard, "But I just want to say that I love you mom and Emma. I really don't know what else to say but that. And don't forget about me even though I wasn't around…" Violent coughing could be heard. "And Ry, if you find me, I love you too. But differently. Like I really love you. I know I'm going to die, but you three are the most important people in my life and I want you to know that, even though I don't show it. Please…just…just promise me I won't be forgotten…" That was the end of the tape. Miya found herself crying again, like she did when she was reunited with her parents.

"Your daughter made it possible for all of that to end."

"Thank you, Miya." Misty said and held her hands in hers.

"Please, call me Aimi." Miya smiled as she felt her heart melting, becoming warmer. She was beginning to feel like a person. She looked out the kitchen window and silently thanked Gracie Ketchum for making everything possible.

_I know, horrible ending, but it's the best I could come up with ^_^_


End file.
